Artist Marie Cameron’s Essay on The Memento Cover Art

Yes, the cover of The Memento is drop dead gorgeous. And yes, of course, there is an unusual story behind it! It’s a writer’s dream to have a cover which so perfectly captures the world of the book. One of the most thrilling aspects of writing a novel over a fourteen year period, is of course, finishing the final draft, ha ha.

The Cover and Jacket Design

But that step is just the beginningg of another process, the creation of the actual object. I was delighted when the design for The Memento was shown to me. The designer is a guy named Five Seventeen. I only know him through his work and I’m in awe. And when I say design, I mean the font and styling, AND this image featured here, the bird on the shovel and the intricate spine, influenced by the wrought iron fence at Petal’s End, the sprawling creepy estate in the book.

The End of Spring

And on the front, the hauntingly beautiful cover featuring the art of Marie Cameron. The painting, ‘The End of Spring’, was inspired by a photo of a dead bird I actually took (that story in Part II, another note). And here it is, creating what every writer wants, an object which beckons the eyes and the hands. To celebrate the April 19th publication date of the novel, Marie wrote this captivating essay about her perspective on our long time collaboration. The cover of my first novel, Heave, also uses some of Marie’s art. I will be doing another note on how I came to take this photo in 2012 when I was hosting CBC Fear Itself, but right now I invite you to click on Behind a Cover – a Collaboration of Artist and Author and have a peek into Marie Cameron’s artistic practice, and see how a dead bird ended up on the front of The Memento.